Ministers: Don't let shooting undo progress

The shooting of a young man by police brought Hazleton ministers and church members together on Tuesday, but the setting of the meeting in the community center of the Hazleton Integration Project provided them with perspective.

The Rev. Doug McKeeby of Trinity Lutheran Evangelical Church in Hazleton called the death of Jonathan K. Garay on Oct. 5 an unfortunate incident.

"Here in Hazleton we need to persevere," McKeeby said. "I think in the past few years we've made a lot of progress. We can't let a thing like this tear us down."

After the shooting, Garay's family provided details that conflicted with how the police described events and organized a protest with marchers who sought justice for Garay on Oct. 11. On Oct. 15, Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis concluded that the police officer was justified in shooting Garay and said the physical evidence didn't match the family's version of events.

"We can't let that one incident overshadow everything else that's happening," John Keegan, a Hazleton pharmacist, said to the minister's group, the Hazleton Ministerium.

Members of the Ministerium heard about what's been happening at the community center during a tour before their meeting.

When the center opened this summer, 700 children came for classes, programs, sports and lunch.

Since the center began classes for adults during the day and children after school this fall, 1,200 or more people have been stopping by each week.

"We never expected such numbers," Bob Curry, president of the center's board of directors, said.

Running the center takes at least 100 volunteers, and Curry encouraged ministers to ask members of their church to spend some time at the center. They could read to children, teach classes in citizenship or English as a second language, pick up hot meals that the Commission on Economic Opportunity cooks for students after school or monitor pick-up games in the gym.

The center also offers after-school programs for students in grades three through eight. For every 15 students, one retired teacher, one adult volunteer and one high school volunteer help with homework and other topics that students want to learn.

Curry said the program is students who want to reach their academic potential. With one volunteer for every five students, they can make a difference in the students' progress. Students and their parents have to pledge a commitment. After three unexcused absences, they are dropped, and their slot goes to another student from the waiting list.

"Having you here right now is part of the solution," Eugenio Sosa, the executive director of the center, said to the ministers. "It makes me happy because we have the same concerns about people."

Sosa said he meets people from pre-schoolers in the play and learn program to a woman in her 80s who dances to Latin music in a Zumba class. The center also offers classes in Spanish, Italian, computers, engineering and drawing and rents space to a dual language cyber school and martial arts school.

Sosa is the only paid employee. Every piece of furniture and every book in the library was donated to the center, which Curry said will need to raise $55,000 a year to pay for heat, light, water, sewer and maintenance.

"We want to make sure that this place is open not just this year and next year but 10 years from now," Curry said.

Sosa said the helpers at the center and the ministers in the community have to be persistent in their message to the community because "people don't change overnight."

Peter DeMarco, assistant to the pastor at Buenas Nuevas Evangelical Congregational Church, which is working to open another community center at the former Jewish Community Center, said by working with children now volunteers will see changes in the community later.

"When you change children, sometimes you can change their parents," the Rev. Marjorie Keiter of Ss. Peter and Paul's Lutheran Church said.

Sosa said, "Little by little, we're making the big change."

kjackson@standardspeaker.com

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